Six years pass. Jiraiya & Naruto left Leaf. Sasuke & Kakashi left too. Sakura's been working with Tsunade. Paths cross as the men return. And somehow the three ninja find themselves hurled twenty years in the past. Summary inside.

When Sakura stepped
out of the tent, Ino beaming at her like a mad woman, she felt as
though she'd finally come home. This was it, was the thought which
raced across her mind.

She'd spent
countless years trying to convince herself this was all wrong, it
wasn't right for her. She allowed herself to remain by his side, to
join ANBU with him, to become everything she wanted to be because of
him. The whole time, denying herself that it was him at all. Yet, it
was. Her body, her heart, everything, all that was her had accepted
what he was to her long before she admitted it to herself.

She carried no
flowers, she wore no veil and she was not swathed in a gown of
pristine white as she walked past the crowd of people and towards the
long dual lines of ANBU shinobi. And as she stood, poise, before the
long walk that would make her his wife, she was surprised to find he
was not there waiting for her at the end.

Her eyes narrowed
and her looked around.

Had Kakashi changed
his mind? After all this? After all the torment, tears, blood and
sweat they both shed together and apart? No... her mind whispered as
her heart slowly began to break.

She felt a tap on
her shoulder and swiftly looked left through the slits of her mask.
Her heart stopped racing and her mind stopped coming up with
analytical reasons as soon as she saw that mask.

"Kakashi?"
she whispered, suddenly confused as she realized he was in the long
line of ANBU.

"Minato-sensei
wanted to make an announcement, Sakura," he whispered. "Just
wait."

"An
announcement..?" Her head turned and she looked down the line of
ANBU towards Minato. She blinked as he smiled at her.

"Can I have
silence, please?" the Hokage asked the crowd as he waved his
hands outward.

It took a few
moments, a few unsettled whispers, but after about a minute, there
was silence in the village.

"Thank you,"
he called out loudly with a smile. "Now that I have your
attention... I'd like to address that many of you are confused as to
why I asked you all here. Some of you want to know why so many ANBU
are stationed in two long rows. Well," he drawled out, pausing
for effect, "what you see before you is a tradition that had
been in long standing since the origination of ANBU as a unit into
our village. It is customary for several, if not all of them, to show
up when one of their own marries." He half smiled a murmurs rose
up from the crowd.

He held his hands
up again, indicating silence. "But a wedding is not the reason I
have called you all here today," he explained. "Will Haruno
Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto please step forward and
present yourselves to me?"

More murmurs rose
up from the crowd as her two team mates made their way to her side.

Sakura took off her
mask and looked between the two confused faces to either side of her.

"What's going
on?" Naruto asked first.

"I'm not too
sure," Sakura replied, eyes drawing towards Minato.

Sasuke said nothing
but indicated they should move forward.

As all three began
to walk, one by one, in a systematic fashion as the three passed, the
long line of ANBU began to kneel; one hand gripped around the hilt of
their sword as the tip rested against the ground.

"Why are they
kneeling?" Sakura hissed to Sasuke.

"I don't
know," he muttered back as he watched.

Sakura had no idea
what was going on, but she was far more nervous than she had been
about five minutes ago. A wedding was bad enough, what with cold feet
daring to trip you up. But this? What was up Minato's sleeve this
time?

She looked up at
the small, stairway laden stage Minato stood upon until her eyes
reached his. He was smiling, but for the life of her she didn't know
why. Then he winked at her. It was an action that got her and her two
team mates raising their brows.

"Turn around,
you three," he murmured. Once team seven did as he requested he
gave a short nod and returned his attention to the crowd. He placed
his hands behind his back and began speaking once more.

"Years before
I could even walk, and long before I ever became a shinobi or
attended the Academy... Three local ninja became legends.

"They fought
against a man twice their size and equally just a powerful. He was
called Hanzo and hailed from the Rain village. They were called
Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru and as we all very well know, they
hailed from Leaf.

"As a reward
for their victory, Hanzo dubbed the trio the Sanin. He told them the
only way he would allow them peace is if they accepted this title
from there on out." Minato briefly looked down at the group
before one again addressing the crowd.

"Today, we
bear witness to a similar group. They fought against impossible odds,
defeated impossible foes, and returned to our village. Their story is
not one which can be written into the history books for years to
come. But, one day, when your grandchildren are young," he
paused, grinning at what he was to say next, "they will read of
the legendary group known as The Trinity of Konoha. They will spin
tales and mimic what they have been told while they play.

"Know that,
while their deeds, their duty, what they have given us might not been
known for several generations, you are all to give them the same
respect you so give the Sanin. People of Konoha," he said loudly
while indicating to the three a few steps below him, "I give you
your Trinity!"

Shouts Sakura was
not expecting, came out from all corners, all areas. Some people
smiled, others looked confused, some appeared to ask questions to
their friend about what it could be that she, Sasuke and Naruto had
done that had remain secretive.

She was
overwhelmed, but happy all the same. She surprised Minato had done
this. He knew how important it was for the time, that way they had
done not become public knowledge; yet... he was going to give them a
title, one that they were entitled to receive one day if Madara's
predictions were true.

She couldn't help
but grin as Naruto soaked the attention up. He laughed, smiled and
wove out into the crowds. She felt a nudge next to her and looked
over at Sasuke, who was smirking.

"He's such an
idiot," the Uchiha muttered.

Sakura kept
grinning as she nudged him back and winked. "Ah, yes, but he's
our idiot."

Sasuke chuckled and
she laughed with him. She would have liked to stand there all day
long with him as they both soaked up the attention, acting as though
they weren't. However... there was still one more thing to do...

Oh yeah... a
wedding.

ooo

"Do you,
Haruno Sakura, take Hatake Kakashi to be your lawfully wedded
husband? To protect, to nurture, to love, through sickness and in
health, through good times and bad? Do you promise to be with him
always, stand with him in all that he does, and do you vow to treat
him as equally as you yourself wish to be treated equally?"

Sakura, through the
slits in her mask, smiled as she looked from Minato to Kakashi and
squeezed his hand. "I vow all you have spoken, Hokage-sama."

Minato turned to
Kakashi, smiling softly. "Do you, Hatake Kakashi, take Haruno
Sakura to be your lawfully wedded wife? To protect, to nurture, to
love, through sickness and in health, through good times and bad? Do
you promise to be with her always, stand with her in all that she
does, and do you vow to treat her as equally as you yourself wish to
be treated equally?"

He too looked over
at Sakura, smiling as he looked at her through the slits in his mask.
He squeezed back. "I vow all you have spoken, Hokage-sama."

"Then, by the
power vested in me, as Hokage and as witness to these services, I now
pronounce you husband... and wife." He gestured to the both.
"You may now kiss."

Turning to one
another and pulling their masks up to set atop their heads, Kakashi
and Sakura reached for one another. They embraced and at the moment
their lips touched, a shout shot up from the crowd.

-The
End-

...or
is it?

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.

?

Sasuke watched as
the crowds disbursed, as the ANBU left one by one and as Sakura and
Kakashi flitted out of sight to be alone with one another over the
rooftops of Konoha. And he suddenly...

...felt alone.

Naruto had long
left with a group of friends to later meet with the married couple at
Yin's to celebrate. He'd been invited to go, expressed that he would
join them later, but for now... he enjoyed the silence and the
solitude.

Still... at the
back or his mind and within the beating of his chest... he ached.
Watching Sakura today... watching her get married and giving her
away... had torn through him. Not because he loved her as he once
did, but because he envied her.

Silence... was so
deafening.

It was almost like
watching a newly painted canvas as someone splashed water onto it's
surface, the colors fading away and trickling down to leave a blank
slate.

"Tabula
Rasa..." he heard someone say.

He turned to looked
as a familiar old man no taller than to his mid thigh came into view.
He smiled up at Sasuke. "It means blank slate in Latin... didn't
you know?"

Sasuke sighed.
"What do you want, Eon?"

Eon grinned in that
telltale way he always did. "I have another mission for you."

Sasuke arched a
brow. "Again?" He pursed his lips. "What about Sakura
and Naruto?"

Eon shook his head.
"Just you, Sasuke... this is about your future... not theirs."

-Ok,
seriously... THE END!-

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